Batesmotel Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 Movie, pizza, snuggle with the wife? Hell no. The Poly monster struck again. Pinhole leak. Under 2 hours including buying parts. But why is it always up in tight little spaces? Removed the T and went several feet each way with Pex. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railfancwb Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 I have a kindred repair coming up. Have a couple hydrants in the yard. Broke one off several years ago with bush hog. Put a shutoff valve in the line in the crawl space, then fixed the hydrant at leisure. Good I put the shutoff valve in the line, as a bovine critter decided the hydrant at the end of the line would make an excellent scratching post. Leak started slowly then washed itself larger. Some $450 of water later I realized there was a leak, located it, and turned off the shutoff valve. It can now wait on mild temperatures and drier weather to be fixed. Annoying as it is, my leak could have been far worse. In the 600+ feet from the road to the house, or in the crawl space, or - worst possibility - in a wall. I am getting shutoff valves installed one leak at a time. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batesmotel Posted February 24, 2022 Author Share Posted February 24, 2022 If I totally re-pipe the house I’m putting in a manifold. One set of valves to every faucet. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fog Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 On 2/23/2022 at 8:29 PM, Batesmotel said: If I totally re-pipe the house I’m putting in a manifold. One set of valves to every faucet. This is becoming more common all the time. It works to equalize pressure throughout a house which makes running the dishwasher while someone takes a shower less likely to start WWIII. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAKA Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 Does anyone pipe only COLD water to each outlet and have a small 110V heater for HOT water, cuts down on the piping, and makes draining the system, if ever needed easier,,,, Also provides instant HOT water.....NO WAITING AND RUNNING WATER TILL IT GETS HOT...ALSO NO STORING AND KEEPING 80 GALLONS OF WATER HOT ?? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampfox762 Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 Just had my whole house re piped cause of that poly crap. Could have just fixed the one elbow but by Law in Floriduh, ya HAVE to have it re piped or ya can't sell your house. They have to go thru the ceiling so in the summer there is NO cold water for at least 10 minutes out of the "Cold" tap. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAKA Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostinTexas Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 On 2/23/2022 at 9:28 PM, Batesmotel said: Movie, pizza, snuggle with the wife? Hell no. The Poly monster struck again. Pinhole leak. Under 2 hours including buying parts. But why is it always up in tight little spaces? Removed the T and went several feet each way with Pex. I thought they outlawed that garbage decades ago. I suppose residual is still around, and the poly is why I still can't warm up to PEX. Well that ant the horrible connections some make with it and it all goes south. At least they have tried to correct as much as they can with the hardware, the bathing ape making the connection seems to be the problem any more. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Longmire Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 36 minutes ago, Swampfox762 said: Just had my whole house re piped cause of that poly crap. Could have just fixed the one elbow but by Law in Floriduh, ya HAVE to have it re piped or ya can't sell your house. They have to go thru the ceiling so in the summer there is NO cold water for at least 10 minutes out of the "Cold" tap. No matter where I live, I would NEVER run water lines through an attic. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostinTexas Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 11 minutes ago, Walt Longmire said: No matter where I live, I would NEVER run water lines through an attic. It is the new trend now. PEX has brought that about, again. I don't like it either, but that is what the new construction has. It seems they learned how to cover it instead of laying it on top of insulation, and that helps. When the big selling point is how much it can expand when it freezes, I call that a problem. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipedreams Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 34 minutes ago, Walt Longmire said: No matter where I live, I would NEVER run water lines through an attic. I agree but some people live where there are no basements and don't have much choice. Think the attic is bad, own a place when the water pipes are under the slab, good luck with the jack hammer. Don't know if they allow that anymore but it was a trend at one time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampfox762 Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 I hear ya Walt. Just ain't no other way to do it. It's criminal how many houses are like that down here. ACTUALLY...It's NOT the piping. It's the Damn elbows and connection method for the elbows that is the problem. Hell, I could have just fixed the one elbow leak behind the wall in the bathroom and be good to go. Now...let that damn thing bust under the slab.... Anyway...It's te LAW. Can't sell your house till it's re piped. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Longmire Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 53 minutes ago, pipedreams said: I agree but some people live where there are no basements and don't have much choice. Think the attic is bad, own a place when the water pipes are under the slab, good luck with the jack hammer. Don't know if they allow that anymore but it was a trend at one time. My shop I park the KW in, and the attached apartment are heated with pex ran through the slab. Very efficient way to heat. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fog Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 No pipe in attics here, not allowed, also no exterior walls. In the interior walls and under the slabs before the concrete is poured which works fine with PEX. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Longmire Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 1 hour ago, Fog said: No pipe in attics here, not allowed, also no exterior walls. In the interior walls and under the slabs before the concrete is poured which works fine with PEX. The only place I have piping in exterior walls, is where the frostless hose bibs exit the wall. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfost11 Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 Our last house had all poly plumbing. Except for the bits coming into and out of the water heater. In 8 years I had to fix three leaks. Two in the copper leading to the water heater, and the third being the water heater itself. Our realtor relayed a bunch of horror stories about it but, I guess we were lucky. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwalchmai Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 My old house north of ATL was built in 1980. Apparently all the houses in the subdivision used the same source for their copper pipes. I had a poly leak in the late 90s where the service entered the house and the poly joined the house's copper. Then I started getting pinhole leaks inside. I got real good at plugging them with inner tube and hose clamps, but finally had the all the pipes replace with PEX in the early 2010s. A couple years later my neighbor called and said she had a leak. Same problem. Then another neighbor. I plugged a couple for them but I think they all eventually had to get new PEX. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostinTexas Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 Well crap. Got up and was making the bed, felt a "cool" spot in the carpet on a trip around the bed. Didn't think anything of it, then next trip, Squish. Water seeping out of the slab. We had a leak in a wall a month or so ago, now this. I'm afraid we may be in for a re-pipe. Pretty odd here. That pipe should outlive us and everyone we know and love. Plumber will let us know the diagnosis. I know it is going to be a pain because of where it is, but we may need to go another rout. At least we can use our plumber and he is more than reputable. More to come. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwalchmai Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 Don't I recall reading that concrete is corrosive to poly? Maybe I made that up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostinTexas Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 1 hour ago, gwalchmai said: Don't I recall reading that concrete is corrosive to poly? Maybe I made that up. Ours is from our famous hard water, and it ain't looking good. Plumber validated our suspicion that once copper starts failing, chances are it is going to keep going and probably get worse. We are exploring our options right now. I know these guys didn't expect to run into the hornets nest they found, but glad it is these folks and not some of the others we have run across down here. They don't want to dig into the slab any more than we want them to, so there is that. Still not our best outcome, but you do what you have to. The intent is to be one and done, but we'll see. It may take a week or two by the time this, that and schedule come together. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valmet Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 I have Polybutylene plumbing in my house (built in 1990) and fortunately everything has been fine. I’ve heard two schools of thought from folks who work in construction 1- “It’s not if it fails, it’s when...” 2- “If it’s lasted for over 8-10 years without issues it’s not something to worry about...” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampfox762 Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 24 minutes ago, Valmet said: I have Polybutylene plumbing in my house (built in 1990) and fortunately everything has been fine. I’ve heard two schools of thought from folks who work in construction 1- “It’s not if it fails, it’s when...” 2- “If it’s lasted for over 8-10 years without issues it’s not something to worry about...” My house was 29 years old when 1 fitting in the bathroom started leaking. I could have fixed it and it would probably have lasted another 20 odd years. But like I said, here in Florida YOU can fix it all ya want but if ya want to sell it to someone else...THATS when you'll have to have it re piped. We also have something called "Wind mittagation certificate". Biggest rip off I've ever seen. It's suppose to ensure that your roof is secured to the house with Brackets. Some fat ass, over 300 lbs, (literally I was afraid he was gonna bust my ladder to the attic.) Came down, handed me my "Certificate). 150 bucks. There is NO way he could see all the roof straps from where he was sitting. He could see about a third of the attic!! Gotta have it done though. "Insurance"....It's a racket. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostinTexas Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 Still waiting. Supposed to have started the retrofit on Tuesday. Had to follow up on another obligation. They called today and no show. Tomorrow is a new day, and I hope the guy gets to us. Not the kind of service we were expecting out of a very reputable company, especially when waiting patiently for 6 days before the start of the job. Living the Hunger Games is getting old. Not too inconvenient, but still inconvenient and not something either of us expect long term in the house, especially since we were planning on being up and running today. We'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostinTexas Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 They got it done in one day. LostWife has been a wreck for the past few days, and was in a hissy today. Lots of cutting and holes in walls. Only one is in sight, the rest are hidden in vanities and closets. We eliminated a shower that was going to be a royal pain, but we plan on remodeling our bath and doing away with a jacuzzy tub for a nice walk in. Not sure when that will happen now, our remodel money was used for retrofit. Still have a few questions, but plumber will be back tomorrow to finish up some nit picking stuff and present the damage to the bank account. He claims I can just treat it like the other piping, but I don't see that since it is in the attic instead of buried a few feet under a nice warm slab. Neighbors say this sort of problem is rather normal for the area. Go figure. Now to get the house back in a semblance of order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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